As a recent convert to the Blade "hype", aside from their "proprietary nature" I personally believe they are the biggest leap forward yet in the server market and as such I will never regret the decision.

We invited IBM, HP and DELL to kit us out, but at the end of the day only IBM could meet our requirements - the reason? simply the networking flexibility, IBM offers a vast array of different switches.

Until Dell address this aspect of their chassis, they're are losing out.

<< Parker, however, seems to mean that no Tier 1 server seller has tied virtualization to servers in the mysterious manner that Dell plans.>>

Aside from doing some REAL ENGINEERING work (I DOUBT it) there is not much Dell can likely add to the Virtualization mix that has not already been done..

I believe HP has a whole suite of software to support VMware, MS Virtual Server and even Xen :

http://h18004.www1.hp.com/products/servers/proliantessentials/valuepack/vms/index.html

I'm sure IBM touts something similar. Sun will of course steer you toward "containers" on Solaris.

Maybe Dell should wait until THEY enter the realm of Tier 1 server vendors before they make such statements.....